Where do we go from here my friend?

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THIS EMAIL WAS SENT TO THE POWER OF PEACE AND WAS WRITTEN FROM A JEWISH WOMAN TO HER MUSLIM FRIEND:

I sit here today with a very heavy heart and wonder where we go from here. You see it feels to me that you would very much like to see the destruction of Israel. That you believe that Israel is a terrorist nation and that the Jews are to blame for what is going on in the Middle East today. I could sit here and impart more history than you know to justify Israel's existence. I could tell you how the rhetoric you are posting is similar to the rhetoric that the Jews experienced before the Holocaust. And I could talk about the dangers of hate mongering speech and what it can incite in people. But I am not going to do this as I don't believe it will change anything for you.

What I am going to tell you, that you may not realize, is that by participating in talk of Israel's destruction, you are participating in the destruction of the Jews and in turn participating in MY destruction. When you talk about all Israelis and Zionists as terrorists, it means that you are saying anyone who supports Israel in any way is a terrorist which means you are calling ME a terrorist. And when you say that the Jews are responsible for everything that has happened in the Middle East, you are saying that I am responsible too.

I watched as Muslims flew two planes into the World Trade Center but when people started to say that all Muslims were terrorists, I defended them, which means I defended YOU. When people said and still say that all Muslims want to destroy our world, I defend them, which means I defend YOU. And when extremist Israelis say that Palestinians don't deserve their own state, I defend the Palestinians, which means I defend YOU.

I understand that you equate Israel with apartheid in South Africa and I too see similarities but I also see as many differences. I recognize that Israel is not all good but I know she is far from all bad. I believe that the Palestinians deserve their own state but I also see the Palestinians' active role in this conflict.

You see the difference between us is that I see two sides to this. I see that the Israelis should not hide behind self-defence. And I see that the activists should not hide behind Peace. I see that extremists on both sides of this issue are the reason that there is no peace. Because if you talk to middle of the road Israelis and middle of the road Palestinians, they all want the same thing and they know the extremists on both sides are at fault for not allowing it.

You can choose to continue your one-sided rhetoric which hopes for MY destruction or you can choose to work side-by-side and try to find a way to heal the suffering and bring about peace for all of us. At the end of the day, the choice is yours.